Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
CHARLESTON — South Carolina’s largest airport has decked the halls for the holidays already, but it’s the arrivals and departures board that sported the most red and green — signaling delays and cancellations to flyers. Kelly Hanke and some of her business partners were traveling to Charleston for work Nov. 10. All flew from different airports and experienced varying levels of delays. She had hour-plus delay between Reagan International and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, but no delay heading into Charleston. “The impact at airports runs downhill, too. One-way rental cars were all booked up in Atlanta,” Hanke said. “Those who were delayed had to spend the night and fly out rather than drive.” Hanke said she worries about her flight back later this week. She said she tried to plan ahead the best she could. “I almost booked an afternoon flight back, but opted for an earlier one in case there are delays,” she said. Airlines canceled thousands of flights since Nov. 7 to comply with the Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce 4 percent of their capacity to result of critical staffing shortages tied to the federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1. The cancellations are scheduled to rise to 6 percent of all flights at 40 of the nation’s busiest airports on Nov. 11 and to 10 percent by the end of the week. While no South Carolina airports made the list, flights connecting through key hubs like Atlanta, Charlotte, New York and Chicago are on it. Charleston International saw minimal lines at airline check-in counters and security Nov. 10, with most of the reported 9 cancellations and 23 delays attributed to arrivals from larger airports, according to flight tracking app FlightAware. Columbia Metropolitan had several cancellations, while Greenville Spartanburg had nearly a dozen canceled and another dozen delays. Myrtle Beach had more than a dozen delays by midday Nov. 10. Even after the government reopens, flyers can expect logistical issues the airlines restore routes to pre-shutdown period. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said last week that flight cuts will remain in place until the FAA sees safety metrics improve. Duffy warned over the weekend that if the shutdown drags on, the situation could worsen the closer it gets to the busy holiday season. He said air travel may “be reduced to a trickle” by the week of Thanksgiving, and cuts may rise to 20 percent the longer government employees — who are almost into their second missed pay period — go without paychecks, the Associated Press reported. “You’re going to have massive disruption. I think a lot of angry Americans. I think we have to be honest about where this is going. It doesn’t get better. It gets worse until these air traffic controllers are going to be paid,” Duffy told “Fox News Sunday” about the upcoming busy Thanksgiving travel period. Ahead of the cuts, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said during a Nov. 5 news conference the proposed staggered cuts were unprecedented and he wasn’t aware of another time in his 35-year career where “we’ve had a situation where we’re taking these kinds of measures.” As the rollback on flights nationally continues, one Delta Air Lines flight leaving Columbia bound to New York City’s LaGuardia Airport was diverted back to the Capital City over the weekend due to the shutdown. Officials across the state are encouraging fliers to closely monitor their flight status and check with their airlines directly for up-to-date information before leaving for the airport.
